MINISTER OF JUSTICE FINDS MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE: REFERS MURDER CASE TO QUEBEC COURT OF APPEAL

OTTAWA, July 12, 2005 – Irwin Cotler, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, today announced that he has determined that "there is a reasonable basis to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred" in the first degree murder conviction of Andre Tremblay. Accordingly, the Minister has referred the case to the Quebec Court of Appeal, under the conviction review provisions of the Criminal Code.

Mr. Tremblay was convicted in February 1984 of first-degree murder in the killing of Serge Fournier, who died on July 3, 1982. Mr. Tremblay was sentenced to life imprisonment, with no parole eligibility for 25 years. Further criminal appeals were unsuccessful and Mr. Tremblay applied to the Minister of Justice for a review of his murder conviction under s.690 (now section 696.1) of the Criminal Code.

The only ground for Mr. Tremblay's application for ministerial review related to the statements of a jailhouse informant, who had testified that the accused had confessed to him when they were both in custody. The informant later recanted under oath his trial testimony in 1988 and 1991. Mr. Tremblay and his counsel were also never told that the informant had received certain advantages in exchange for his trial testimony.

The Minister said that "this new and significant evidence - including the absence of disclosure to the accused - could have had an impact on the fairness of Mr. Tremblay's trial and his conviction." As a result, the Minister is satisfied that there is a reasonable basis to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred in this case.

The Minister made his decision after reviewing the Investigation Report and advice of the Criminal Conviction Review Group (CCRG) of the Department of Justice, the submissions of counsel for Mr. Tremblay, and the recommendations of Mr. Bernard Grenier, his Special Advisor on the criminal conviction review process.

For an application for ministerial review to succeed, the Minister of Justice must, by law, be satisfied, as a threshold requirement, that there is a reasonable basis to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred.  If this legal requirement is met, the Minister may grant one of two remedies – a direction for a new trial, or a referral of the matter to the court of appeal to be heard as a new appeal.

This is the sixth application for review Minister Cotler has granted – he has previously ordered three new trials and referred two cases to courts of appeal, including granting Steven Truscott's application for review and referring his case to the Ontario Court of Appeal.

When rendering a decision on an application for ministerial review, the Minister is not making a finding of guilt or innocence, as he has no legal power to make such a finding. The Minister is simply returning the matter to the courts in circumstances where there is a reasonable basis to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred.  Ultimately, the courts will decide the issue of the applicant's guilt or innocence.

Accordingly, pursuant to section 696.3(3)(a)(ii) of the Criminal Code, the Minister is referring Mr. Tremblay's case back to the Quebec Court of Appeal as an appeal against conviction. The Minister said that "the Quebec Court of Appeal is in the best position to assess the impact of the new evidence on the fairness of Mr. Tremblay's trial and his conviction."

In January, federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) Ministers Responsible for Justice released a major new report on the prevention of miscarriages of justice. Prepared by a committee of senior police officers and prosecutors from across the country, the report contains a series of recommendations for police and prosecutors on how to prevent wrongful convictions. The full report is available online at http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/dept/pub/hop/.

Further information on the conviction review process is available at the CCRG website (http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/ps/ccr/index.html.)

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Ref.:

Denise Rudnicki
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister of Justice
(613) 992-4621

Media Relations Office
Department of Justice Canada
(613) 957-4207